How NFC Championship Drop Led to Panthers' Darnold-Arnold Combo | Eastern NC Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of ESPN. The author of this post is David Newton.


    SPARTANBURG, S.C.     Say it three times fast: Sam Darnold to Dan Arnold.

    The tongue-twister of the Carolina Panthers quarterback-tight end combination has become a joke around training camp in that TV announcers will have a tougher time saying it than teammates and coaches.

    Arnold laughed when asked if he could do it three times, as though it was a "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" challenge.

    "I probably could not," said Arnold, still laughing. "I would probably gum it up completely."

    What Arnold, 26, hasn't gummed up is an NFL career that could have ended in New Orleans after he let a touchdown pass slip through his hands in the first quarter of the NFC Championship Game following the 2018 regular season.

    That game is best remembered for the blatant pass interference no-call against the Los Angeles Rams inside the 20 in the final minutes of a 26–23 Saints loss.

    But Arnold remembers it for a missed opportunity that made the former Division III wide receiver a target on social media; that impacted him so negatively, he wouldn't look at the play for almost two months and almost gave up football.

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    Read the full article HERE on ESPN.